Perth based Troy Resources have achieved commercial production at their $133m Karouni gold plant in Guyana, a small English speaking country on the north Atlantic coast of South America.
Commercial production is defined as the point when the mine is in the condition necessary for it to be capable of operating at its nameplate design specification set by management for long term sustainable production.
The company says its Karouni plant is now self funding just 8 weeks after pouring its first 4.7kg gold bar and they are aiming for a throughput of 80 000 dry tonnes a month from this month onwards.
Managing Director, Martin Purvis said: "Achieving commercial production is a significant milestone for the Company. I want to thank all our employees and contractors for their dedication and hard work ensuring the successful transition from commissioning to commercial production."
Troy has committed around $12m for the coming year in exploration expenditure at Karouni in an attempt to further tap the super rich Guyana Greenstone Shield Belt which hosts a number of world class gold projects. These include the 18m ounce El Callao project, the 17m ounce Las Chrisinas project, the 10m ounce Brisas project, the 13.7m ounce Gross Rosebel project and almost a dozen other projects with multi million ounce gold resources.
The Company has identified more than 30 additional targets over a 60km strike length that may also be capable of adding more mine life to the initial 3 year life at Karouni.
In a sign that the gold market is definitely hotting up Troy Resources shares doubled in value in the last month from a low of 19c to around 43c a share.
